In the interest of preserving journalistic integrity all around, I must tell you that my friend Noah Shactman offered to do something very intriguing to my soft tissues if I linked his in-depth expose on Chicago’s camera-cranking police force. Fortunately (or unfortunately), Noah also has the ability to make me squirm using ‘words,’ detailing the 30-camera network currently used by police to monitor (and potentially lead the arrest of) people on the streets doing suspicious things. It’s a pilot-program police state, but it’s gone so well—murders are way down—that Chicago police want to bump the 30 camera network to over two thousand cameras.
It’s not all black and white, though—in fact, it’s mostly black, with studies showing the Chicago program tends to target young, black males at a far more frequent rate than it targets whites. Wherever you stand on the issue, it’s a good read. These cameras are only going to be cheaper and more mobile in our future.
Spycam Force [Wired via DefenseTech]
